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Twenty five years since the
release of the landmark “A Nation at Risk” report, the state of our education
and our young people remain very much at risk. The result, as revealed in new
analysis, is that our nation is facing a dropout crisis with our largest cities
paying the biggest price.
Every 26 seconds, a student
drops out of high school in America. That adds up to more than 1.1 million
students per year. For those young people who don’t graduate from high school,
future prospects are dim. And even for those who do graduate, far too many are
not prepared for college and work.
2.
The Call to Action: Dropout Prevention Summits
Click here for more information.
In the next
five years, the Alliance wants to reverse this trend and, with the help of our
partners, deliver more Promises to 15 million of our nation's most disadvantaged
young people. Our top priority: improved high school completion rates. It's the
most important indicator that a young person is on the road to success.
To make this happen, the
Alliance will support 50 state and at least 50 city
Dropout Prevention Summits to be
held by 2010. These summits will increase awareness, encourage collaboration and
facilitate action in those states and communities that want to improve their
graduation rates.
With support from
presenting sponsor State
Farm Insurance Company, national sponsors AT&T, The
Boeing Company, Casey
Family Programs, Ford
Motor Company Fund, Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation,
ING Foundation, and Chairman's
Council member J.
Willard & Alice S. Marriott Foundation, the Dropout
Prevention Summits will:
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Increase public
awareness of the dropout crisis.
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Secure commitment for
integrated collaboration between the corporate, nonprofit, public and school
sectors.
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Engage schools and
provide exposure to strengthen and support their efforts to help
disadvantaged youth.
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Identify and inspire
local leadership to get involved in community-school initiatives.
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Mobilize leaders around
the Alliance’s three National
Action Strategies.
In addition, the dropout
prevention summits will bring attention to high-need populations, create a place
for topical discussions which will lead to the development of local action
plans, build upon existing local education reform efforts, and provide
opportunities to influence local, state, and federal policy. These summits are
more than individual events; they are part of a national call to action on
behalf of the America's Promise Alliance for states and communities to outline
clear actionable steps that will significantly improve the graduation rate.
For more resources and
interactive tools, including a Summit Planning Toolbox, as well as news and
events relevant to Dropout Prevention, join the America’s Promise Alliance’s
15 in 5 Campaign Network
by clicking here.
Academic
Completion
With more than 1.2
million children dropping out each year, America faces a dropout crisis. The
cost? More than $312 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their
lifetimes according to Communities in Schools, one of America’s leading drop-out
prevention partnerships. These trends are reversible, but only when communities
and public, private and nonprofit sectors work together.
United Ways are
funding mentoring programs and after-school initiatives, putting volunteers in
classrooms and supporting dropout prevention programs. The United Way of
Chittenden County in Burlington, Vermont, cut drop-out rates in half by leading
a truancy project with Burlington schools, law enforcement, juvenile justice,
judicial, and human services
To ensure that
children get early exposure to books – which helps build literacy skills and is
a factor in graduation rate – United Ways are boosting books and literacy
programs.
That’s why the
United Way of Central Minnesota’s Success By 6 launched Imagination Library
three years ago. Today, 7,500 children under 5 receive a book each month in the
mail, and strong community support is expected to raise that number to 10,000.
Local businesses are promoting the initiative and encouraging their employees to
sign up.
